Various mechanisms are known in the industry for mounting a hand guard to a receiver of a firearm. Flush mounting between the hand guard and the receiver is preferred for aesthetics and stability of the firearm. If the hand guard mount does not abut the receiver and forms a gap, the firearm may be aesthetically unappealing, the hand guard may wobble and be unstable affecting the accuracy of the firearm, or debris may become lodged in the gap.
It is also important to be able to mount the hand guard to the firearm in an efficient manner using a small number of parts without having to use reduced tolerances between the parts. Therefore, there remains an opportunity to develop a firearm capable of securely mounting a barrel and a hand guard to a receiver in an efficient manner with both of these components adequately being secured to the receiver.